New Jersey is the first and only state in the country to legally recognize LGBTQ+-owned businesses — a statewide certification housed in the Division of Revenue, created by legislation Gus Penaranda championed and Gov. Murphy signed in 2024. Now Penaranda’s new Unity Chamber of Commerce has a target: 5,000 certified LGBTQ+ businesses by 2030, out of roughly 50,000 statewide. He’s brought in Cathy Renna’s Target Cue on media and marketing, which tells you this is a sustained persuasion campaign, not a press release. Here’s why it matters beyond New Jersey: procurement spend isn’t a brand-safety call made by a CMO in June — it’s a year-round purchasing decision, and when it’s anchored in state law rather than a corporate values statement, it doesn’t evaporate when the political weather turns. That’s the channel still growing.
Here’s a story that isn’t getting the attention it deserves, partly because it’s happening at the chamber-of-commerce level rather than in a brand campaign. And chamber-level work is exactly where LGBTQ+ business spend is still growing while corporate DEI budgets contract.
Gus Penaranda — CEO and President of Evolvere Consulting, now operating as the Unity Chamber of Commerce, New Jersey’s only LGBTQ+ chamber — has set a target he’s calling the Mission of 5,000: 5,000 certified LGBTQ+-owned businesses in New Jersey by 2030. This month he added Target Cue, Cathy Renna’s LGBTQ+ communications firm, as media and marketing partner on the push.
Why New Jersey Specifically
This isn’t an aspirational chamber initiative floating free of policy. New Jersey is the first and only state in the country to legally recognize LGBTQ+-owned businesses, through a statewide certification program housed in the Division of Revenue.
That happened because of S1313/A3330, bipartisan legislation Penaranda championed and former Governor Phil Murphy signed in May 2024, creating the LGBTQ+ Business Enterprise (LBE) designation. Penaranda then stepped down from leading the NJ Pride Chamber of Commerce after it passed — and built the Unity Chamber to do the work the law made possible.
Think about what a state-level legal designation changes. LGBTQ+ business certification in the U.S. has largely run through the NGLCC’s private certification, which is genuinely valuable but is a private credential. A state-recognized certification is a different instrument: it can be written into public procurement, referenced in state contracting, and cited by corporations that need a verifiable definition rather than a self-attestation.
The Unity Chamber officially launched May 18, 2026, and marked it with a meet-and-greet at Cavany Foods in Jersey City — the first officially certified LBE in New Jersey, which has the signed bill hanging on its wall. That’s a nice detail. It’s also the correct instinct: the certification story is a small-business story first.
The Math on 5,000
New Jersey is home to roughly 50,000 LGBTQ+-owned businesses. So 5,000 certified by 2030 is a 10% certification rate on the existing base.
That’s an ambitious but credible number, and framing it that way is smart, because it makes the target legible to two audiences at once. To LGBTQ+ business owners, it says: certification is becoming normal, not exotic. To corporate procurement teams, it says: there will be a deep enough certified pool that “we couldn’t find qualified LGBTQ+ suppliers” stops being an available excuse.
“As a state that legally recognizes LGBTQ+-owned businesses, New Jersey is uniquely positioned to showcase inclusive economic leadership,” Penaranda said at launch. He’s also candid about the stage: “We are still building from the ground up. I am currently working on legislation that could eventually provide funding support for LGBTQ+ business initiatives, though that process will understandably take time.”
The longer-term ambition goes past state lines — building what he describes as the world’s largest transnational trade network for LGBTQ+ enterprises. And notably, the Unity Chamber has been leading conversations among New Jersey’s diverse chambers on the grassroots small-business side of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, working with them for nearly four years to develop free resources. That’s the kind of coalition credibility that makes a certification target reachable.
Adding Target Cue — and Why That Signals Seriousness
Bringing in Cathy Renna and Target Cue is the move that tells you this is a real campaign rather than a press release.
Renna co-founded Target Cue in 2006 and has spent close to thirty years shaping how LGBTQ+ stories land in mainstream media — from the aftermath of Matthew Shepard’s murder in 1998 through the marriage equality fight and the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, with placements in essentially every major U.S. and international outlet. She also serves as Communications Director at the National LGBTQ Task Force.
You bring in that kind of communications firepower when the goal is behavior change at scale, not a moment of coverage. Getting 5,000 business owners to complete a certification process is a sustained persuasion problem: they need to know the program exists, understand what certification unlocks, and believe it’s worth the paperwork. That’s a multi-year communications program, and it’s exactly the work Target Cue does.
Where Pink Media Lands
Here’s why this is on our radar, and why it should be on yours.
For two years the LGBTQ+ marketing conversation has been dominated by what’s shrinking — Pride budgets, DEI departments, brand willingness to be visible. But supplier diversity and B2B certification work has a different logic underneath it. Procurement spend isn’t a brand-safety decision made by a CMO in June; it’s a purchasing decision made across the year by people whose job is finding qualified vendors. And when it’s anchored in state law rather than a corporate values statement, it doesn’t evaporate when the political weather turns. That’s the channel that keeps working.
Which makes chambers — and the businesses they certify — a real growth market for anyone in LGBTQ+ media and marketing. Certified businesses need visibility to reach buyers. Corporations need help finding and telling stories about their LGBTQ+ suppliers. New Jersey now has the legal infrastructure, a chamber with a specific target, and serious communications behind it. It’s worth watching closely, and worth copying in other states.
If you’re a certified LGBTQ+ business owner working out how to get in front of buyers, or a brand trying to make its supplier diversity work visible, that’s a conversation we’d welcome. You can always reach us through PinkMedia.LGBT.
Authentic LGBTQ+ engagement, 24/7, 365 days a year — that’s what Pink Media is built for.
